I was recently introduced to Mola boots and shoes, my attention immediately grabbed by the vibrant colors and patterns of vibrant, one-of-a kind, vegan, fair trade shoes being produced by The Aware Network. What’s Mola? Mola is a traditional Central and South American art form consisting of intricately layered textile art, hand-stitched Mola is created by the women of the Kuna tribe of Panama and Colombia.

Jasmine Wallace and Daniel Rawson created Mola shoes because they wanted to walk the talk, so to speak. Jasmine’s mother is Colombian, a heritage Jasmine is closely connected with and inspired by, and which led to this project. They felt Mola shoes could be a great alternative to mass produced big brands, and a way they could contribute to society along socially ethical, eco-conscious and spiritually fulfilling lines.

It’s about time.  I can’t tell you the number of suggestions, comments, inquiries, and occasionally ravings we hear about why there is not sustainable fashion for the full figured woman.   It seems that until recently, most eco designers have focused on the contemporary fit market, with typical size runs ranging from 0-12, with the occasional 14 or 16 in there.  Now, even if 14 or 16 sounds like it might accommodate curves, they tend to run on the small size, sending many a beautiful woman away empty handed and feeling poorly about herself.  But good news, some eco designers are embracing  full figures, as fashion writer Amy Dufault reports on Green +Chic. (Image from Green+Chic – features the Diane Kennedy ‘Serene’ Pant)

Shoemakers over the past fifty years have come to rely heavily on harsh chemical glues, dyes, and leather treatments to mass produce footwear. There are certainly a few eco superstars crafting truly sustainable shoes, like the Green Toe line from Simple Shoes and the handmade sandals from Chicago-based Mohop. What these lines don’t provide much of is the hot factor. For many years, fashionistas have tossed aside their well-meaning desires to save the planet in the search for a pair of hot shoes for a date, cocktail party, or those random moments when a trip to the grocery store requires four-inch stilettos to get the job done. Now at long last, Animal Planet-obsessed fashion hounds have an answer to their footwear needs…

Beyond Skin has created a line of uber fabulous footwear that is stitched, lasted and finished by hand in a small, family-run factory in East London. Started by Brit makeup artist Natalie Dean back in 2001 in an effort to create stylish vegan shoes, Beyond Skin has evolved over the years from just cruelty-free to eco-conscious, too. So often, vegan-centric shoe lines are manufactured with tons of attention paid to saving animals from the slaughterhouse and zero attention paid to preserving the environment in which the animals live.

Lancelot Clark is the sixth generation of the famed Quaker shoe dynasty Clarks. Back in the sixties, Lance conceptualized the iconic Wallabee moccassin, still worn today by everyone from preppy Connecticut housewives to members of the infamous Wu-Tang Clan. After some stressful years running the family’s international brand, Lance took over Terra Plana in the early 1990′s. Along with his son Galahad, Lance has transformed Terra Plana into one of the most stylish and best-selling brands in the sustainable shoe industry.

Terra Plana utilizes eco-conscious and innovative materials such as chrome-free and vegetable tanned leathers, biodegradable soling, recycled seat belts and jeans, reclaimed rubber, and e-leather, a unique blend of leather and textile fibers ‘re-woven’ and finished in a way that makes it practically indistinguishable from fine quality leather. Lance and Galahad are both huge proponents of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). In addition to durability and biodegradability, they address reparability, lightness, and anatomic design.”Terra Plana regularly re-evaluates what we can do to minimize waste and toxin use, and maximize product use and love.”

Ethiopia…land of the original coffee bean, breathtaking waterfalls, and the history-making, inspired leadership of Emperor Haile Selassie I. Ethiopian people are some of the most beautiful in the world, as well as some of the poorest. Too many people in this country suffer and die from diseases that are completely preventable, like podoconiosis.

Launch Date: Summer 2005
Number of Employees: 4
Location of Headquarters: Seattle, WA
Location of Manufacturing: Seattle, WA
Design Heroes: Vivienne Westwood, Rei Kawabuko, Natalie Chanin

While Camilla focuses on the creative end and Davora more on business development, both women contribute to the look and feel of their handmade line. “We try to blend utility and seduction, to find ways clothing can be both useful and ornamental. As entirely independent designers, we walk a fine line between experimentation and commerce and hope to offer something novel and desirable with each new collection.”